Video From Rally in Karnataka Shared as Communal Clashes in Rajasthan's Karauli

The mob in the video was a part of a rally organised by BJP MP Tejasvi Surya in Kolar.

A video showing a mob playing loud music and waving saffron flags in front of a mosque has gone viral with people linking it to the communal clashes that took place in Karauli, Rajasthan.

The claim comes in the backdrop of violence erupted in Karauli on Saturday, 2 April, when a bike rally taken out on the occasion of the Hindu New Year was met with stone-pelting as it passed through a market lane.

However, we found that the viral video was from Kolar, Karnataka. The mob was playing music and raising slogans in front of Hussaini Makan Masjid during a rally.

CLAIM

The video has been shared with a caption that reads, "Where are the so-called champions of Human Rights when houses of Muslims are being burned in India #Karauli #Karauliviolence."

Other social media users also shared the video with similar claims.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

We used the InVID WeVerify Google Chrome extension to extract keyframes from the viral video and conducted a reverse image search on some of them.

While going through the search results, we found the same video on the website of Al Jazeera Mubasher. The article said that the video was originally shared by an independent journalist called Mohammed Irshad.

Tejasvi Surya had organised a cycle rally from Bangalore to Kolar on March 21. When the rally reached the Hussaini Makan Masjid of Kolar the people who participated in the rally stopped and started doing this nuisance.

What is the message? pic.twitter.com/9UwiZlGbEm

— Mohammed Irshad (@Shaad_Bajpe) March 29, 2022

Irshad's tweet said that the mob was in front of the Hussaini Makan Masjid of Kolar, Karnataka and was part of a cycle rally organised by BJP MP Tejasvi Surya. In the second tweet, Irshad clarified that the incident was from a rally that took place on 27 March.

Irshad posted the Tweet on 29 March, therefore, it could not have been from Karauli as the violence took place on 2 April, on the ocassion of Hindu New Year.

We conducted a keyword search for "Tejasvi Surya's Kolar rally" and found other news reports that talked about the incident. Images of the cycle rally were also shared by Surya.

Cyclists from Kolar led by their energetic MP Shri @bjp_muniswamy joined the #Cycle2Freedom ride at Narsapura in large numbers.

Grateful to them for adding strength & joining the #FitIndia movement.#AzadiKaAmritMahotsav @BJYM pic.twitter.com/FuXnn8obpe

— Tejasvi Surya (@Tejasvi_Surya) March 27, 2022

In order to check the location, we looked up Hussaini Makan Masjid of Kolar on Google Maps and found an image of the mosque.

We noticed several similarities while comparing the two images showing that the mosque in question was indeed in Kolar and not Karauli, Rajasthan as claimed.

Evidently, an image from Kolar, Karnataka was linked with the communal violence that erupted in Karauli, Rajasthan.

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